


Cover Up

by Winifred_Zachery



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Bruce in a skirt, M/M, Tony can't concentrate, pantsless science, poor lab safety, tiny bit of crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 21:53:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6676726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winifred_Zachery/pseuds/Winifred_Zachery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There aren't many things that can shut Tony up. Bruce forgetting about proper lab attire is one of them!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cover Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [txorakeriak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/txorakeriak/gifts).



> I totally blame txorakeriak, who requested Bruce in a skirt :P
> 
> Thanks for the beta goes to hideme!

At first Bruce doesn’t even notice Tony in the lab. Usually the man makes himself heard in multiple ways, long before he’s even in close vicinity to Bruce. As soon as he enters the lab, his chatter starts.

It’s mostly unconscious, Tony thinks better when he talks and bounces ideas off something or somebody.

Of course his voice isn’t the only noise soon filling the lab, usually. There’s the music, the clattering of tools dropped onto the ground, some swearing, explosions and shouts of triumph.

Bruce doesn’t mind. In fact, he finds the sounds of his lab partner soothing.

So he’s a little surprised to suddenly see Tony standing by his workstation, since he hasn’t made a single sound. Instead, Tony is staring at him like he’s seen a ghost or something.

“What’s up, you haven’t had your coffee yet?” he asks, turning back to the holo-screen.

Through the reflection he sees Tony lift the coffee cup to his lips, only to find it empty. Bruce tries to smother an amused snort. Suddenly the engineer jerks out of his trance. “What the hell are you wearing?!”

Bruce looks down on himself. Oh. Right.

There’s something missing.

“Wait, don’t tell me,” Tony offers somewhat sarcastically. “I think I got this. You’re not wearing pants.”

No, he’d forgotten. He’d been working on this project for weeks, but something had been missing, he’d been stuck. The solution had been just at the back of his brain, but he hadn’t been able to grasp it. Until this morning, on waking up, he’d had it, just like that.

The Eureka-moment had driven him from his bed and into the lab. In his haste he had put on a shirt and even buttoned it properly, but must have forgotten his pants. And underpants. So right now he is covered only by the tails of his lab coat. Barely. Oh.

“And I’ve been wondering why things felt so airy down there.” He replies dryly.

“Well, don’t you want to put on some pants now?”

Behind Bruce a timer goes off and he turns toward it, distracted. “Yeah, in a minute.” The experiment is at a delicate stage right now and he doesn’t want to mess this up. He puts on his glasses and bends down to get the centrifuge open.

Tony gasps behind him. But when he straightens up again, the engineer has turned away and already put the empty mug in a sink.

Bruce shrugs and gets back to his experiment. Things are working well, the cell construction turned out just like it was supposed to and he writes down the results in his notebook. The leather of the chair actually feels good against his skin, he notices before bending over the microscope again.

A crash makes him look up. There’s an entire tray of beakers now lying in shards on the floor at Tony’s feet. His lab partner frowns at him, then looks down at the mess on the floor. “Dummy, mind giving me a hand here?” He sounds tremendously annoyed and is pointedly not looking in Bruce’s direction.

The scientist once again focusses at the task at hand. He is making good progress and his brain feels just as well ventilated as his nether regions. Actually, he thinks he could get used to not wearing pants in the lab. Tony doesn’t seem to mind as he’s starting to work on one of his own projects and everything is quiet for a while. Until he leans across a lab bench to reach his pen.

“Ow, god damnit!” 

Straightening, Bruce looks up to see Tony holding up his hand, from which a curl of smoke is rising. The smell of burnt flesh spreads around them.

“What’s the matter with you?” Bruce asks, leaving his table to switch off the soldering iron that is currently burning the remains of Tony’s skin stuck to it. He gets the cooling spray they started to keep close by and grasps Tony’s hand to spray it generously onto the already blistering flesh. This one will scar. “You’re in fine form today.”

The playboy doesn’t miss a beat. “So is your ass.”

Bruce does a double take. “Um, what?”

“Yeah, well, it’s kinda distracting.”

For a moment he has no idea what to say to that, but then it hits him. “You were staring at my ass?”

Tony draws his hand back and looks away from Bruce. “As I said, fine form.”

He can’t tell if he’s actually blushing, but all of a sudden Bruce’s face feels really hot. At least Tony isn’t looking at him right now. The hand still holding the ice spray twitches. Maybe it’ll help cool him down somewhat.

It’s not like he believes he’s ugly, but he never in his life believed his middle-aged ass would impress anyone, especially not Mr. seen-’em-all, done-’em-all Tony Stark.

And yet the playboy is currently fidgeting with a band aid for a burn he got because he couldn’t focus on anything beyond Bruce’s ass. Well, that’s actually pretty flattering.

“Um… sorry?” He doesn’t know what else to say, so he puts the ice spray down and turns back toward his table. “I mean, you have seen me naked before.”

Tony huffs. “Yeah, but you’re usually covered in grime and nearly falling asleep from exhaustion. This,” he gestures at Bruce’s getup. “This is all cleaned-up and sciency with your glasses on and the lab coat not leaving much to the imagination! Makes me want to give you a lesson on proper lab safety.”

Considering the playboy is usually the poster boy for how not to work safely in a lab full of volatile substances, his remark suggests that this isn’t all he’d like to do to his lab partner. 

“Sciency?” It’s really all Bruce can think of to answer, because right now his brain decided to take a vacation down south. He stares down at his notes dumbly, suddenly feeling incredibly exposed, and not just due to the fact that his suddenly interested member is pushing against the table with not a stitch of clothing in between. The cold metal on his hot flesh makes him jerk back.

Damn, in hindsight he really should have pondered his choice of clothing more thoroughly.

Though, the way Tony’s eyes rove up and down his body kinda make him glad he didn’t.

“Science is hot,” the other man replies from across the lab. 

He swallows hard. “Yeah?”

“Or it’s just you.” Bruce isn’t even surprised that Tony can say things that embarrass and arouse him in equal measure. The effect is startling. Yes, he definitely should have worn pants. “Because Selwig sciencing in underwear just doesn’t do it for me.”

A startled laugh bursts forth from his lips and that draws a smile from Tony in turn.

“I’d better go put some clothes on…” He ventures and tries to pull at his coat to cover himself. Otherwise he won’t even get to the door without giving Tony an eyeful. Though at this point he isn’t sure the engineer would mind much.

“Not on my account,” Tony replies cheekily. “But don’t expect me to get any work done.”

***

The next time Bruce notices immediately as soon as Tony enters their shared lab and not just because he’s been listening for his arrival. The loud crash of his coffee cup on the floor adequately announces him.

“What on earth are you wearing now?!”

Bruce waits till he has his smile under control. Serious expression firmly in place once more he turns around.

“What do you mean?”

Of course he knows exactly what Tony is referring to. He chose the outfit on purpose, after all. It’s a pleated skirt, tartan-patterned in grey, blue and green, just long enough to cover his ass.

“Oh, cut the innocent act, Banner! You’re wearing a goddamned skirt!”

He looks down at himself, face still blank, then up again, meeting Tony’s eyes. “I am, aren’t I.”

“But… but why?”

He can’t help the small twitch of his lips any longer. It’s not often that Tony Stark, playboy extraordinaire, gets too flustered for coherent sentences.

“Well, it’s less restricting than pants and it offers a lot more protection than just a lab coat.”

He hears an audible swallow. A small smile spreads across Bruce’s lips as he bends back over his work, the hem of the skirt riding up to caress the tops of his thighs.

“And the last time it got me just the results I was hoping for.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit my [tumblr](http://harvestingstorm.tumblr.com/) sometime. You might catch a nice headcanon or two ;)


End file.
